Recipe from Token Asian Friend (from Seriously, So Blessed!)

We have not tried these cookies, but heard about them from a link off Token Asian Friend's blog. Anyone brave enough to try this recipe? 

Bacon chocolate chip cookies from Never Bashful with Butter

(the story behind these cookies is an interesting read)

3/4 cup butter(It has been suggested that using 1 full cup of butter works best due to cookie dough dryness)
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon hazelnut (or almond) extract

*Edit- It has been suggested that the almond flavouring may be overpowering to the flavour of the cookie, feel free to add this ingredient to taste*
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg (It has been suggested that using 2 eggs works best due to cookie dough dryness)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups bacon bits (if preferred, you can separate the dough into two parts and only make half of the dough into bacon cookies, in which case you’ll only want to use 1 cup bacon bits)

*An important note- Be sure to use real bacon bits, not Bacos *See large print at the bottom of this post*

Also, you can make your own bacon bits, just make sure you pat down the bacon chunks with paper towels to remove as much extra bacon grease as possible. *Edit* one of my readers made their own bacon bits and found out that apparently it takes about 2lbs of bacon to make 2 cups of bacon bits, just for future reference.

Directions-

preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.

Beat together the butter, sugars, flavouring and eggs until creamy. In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir together. Dough will be slightly soft. If you want a cakier cookie, add another half cup of flour. Add in chocolate chips and bacon bits. Stir until well integrated. Place dough on a sheet of waxed paper and refrigerate at least an hour. Remove dough from fridge, pinch off 1 1/2 inch pieces of dough and roll into balls. Set dough balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten dough balls slightly with your fingers in the center.

Bake cookies for about 10 minutes, or until the dough starts to turn golden brown. Allow cookies to cool on a cooling rack while you ready the glaze.

Maple cinnamon glaze-

2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon maple extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon cinnamon *edit- it has been suggested that 1 teaspoon may be a bit much, so go ahead and add to taste*
enough water to make a thick glaze (I used about 3 tablespoons)

Mix all ingredients together until smooth and creamy. If lumpy, use a whisk.

Spread a small amount of the glaze on the top of each cookie and top with a small piece of crisp cooked bacon.

Festive Tossed Salad

We made this for our Christmas brunch, and Hallie and Mike like it enough that they will definitely make it again. 

Festive Tossed Salad 

From Taste of Home 

With its unique medley of fruits and festive look, this salad is a holiday tradition at our house. Our three grown daughters have come to expect it. One forkful reminds us of all the things we can be thankful for. -Jauneen Hosking, Greenfield, Wisconsin

SERVINGS  8-10

CATEGORY Salads 

PREP 15 min. 

TOTAL 15 min. 

INGREDIENTS 

• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1/3 cup red wine vinegar 
  
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice 
  
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped onion 
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 
  
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil 
  
• 2 to 3 teaspoons poppy seeds 
  
• 10 cups torn romaine 
  
• 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese 
  
• 1 medium apple, chopped 
  
• 1 medium pear, chopped 
  
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries 
  
• 1/2 to 1 cup chopped cashews 
  

DIRECTIONS      

    In a blender or food processor, combine the sugar, vinegar, lemon juice, onion and salt. Cover and process until blended. With blender running, gradually add oil. Add poppy seeds and blend. 
    In a salad bowl, combine the romaine, Swiss cheese, apple, pear and cranberries. Drizzle with desired amount of dressing. Add cashews; toss to coat. Serve immediately. 

Yield: 8-10 servings.   

Crushed-Peppermint Cheesecake

Mike baked this one from scratch, and it was a big hit at our brunch on Christmas day. 

Crushed-Peppermint Cheesecake 

PREP AND COOK TIME: About 1 1/2 hours, plus at least 4 hours to cool and chill

12 ounces creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, such as Oreos, broken into pieces

3 tablespoons melted butter
1 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
4 eggs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup coarsely crushed peppermint candy

1. Place cookies in a heavy zip-lock plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Pour into a buttered 9-inch round springform pan and pour melted butter over crumbs; mix to coat, then press evenly over bottom and about 1/2 inch up sides of pan. Bake in a 300° oven until crust is slightly darker and looks a bit dry, about 10 minutes (leave oven on).

2. Meanwhile, in a bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and sugar until well blended. Beat in sour cream. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Beat in flour, vanilla, peppermint extract, and salt until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture into pan over baked crust.

3. Bake until edges are just golden and center jiggles slightly when pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour. Run a knife around edge of pan rim. Place pan on a wire rack and cool cheesecake completely in pan. Cover and chill until cold, at least 4 hours or up to 2 days. Run a knife around rim again, then release rim. If any liquid has pooled on surface of cheesecake, blot dry gently with a paper towel. 

4. Decorate top of cake with crushed peppermint candy, pressing it in gently with your hands.
Yield:  Makes 12 to 16 servings

CALORIES 356 (61% from fat); FAT 24g (sat 13g); CHOLESTEROL 108mg; CARBOHYDRATE 31g; SODIUM 373mg; PROTEIN 6.3g; FIBER 0.6g 

Sunset, DECEMBER 2004

Holiday Pecans

1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 egg white
3 cups of pecan halves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Heat oven to 300 line a rimmed baking sheet with nonstick foil, set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together sugar, salt and cinnamon; set aside

In a medium size bowl, whisk egg white and 1 Tablespoon water until foamy. Add pecans to bowl and stir until coated. Pour in sugar mixture and melted butter, and stir well to combine.

Spread pecan mixture in an even layer on prepared baking sheet and bake at 300 for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven and cool completely.


I tried this recipe from Family Circle and honestly could NOT quit eating them. Oh my. Love Me.

Have You Ever Wanted To Eat A Cookie Pie?

There is a restaurant in Utah called The Dodoo or something like that, that serves this recipe. Someone told me about it and gave me the recipe. The other day I was making Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies and noticed that there was a recipe on the back of the Nestle Toll House bag that reminded me of that yummy recipe. So, I made it on Friday and instead of using a pie crust I used a graham cracker crust. It still turned out mighty yummy and most of you will have all of the ingredients to make it.

NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Pie

Ingredients:
1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell *
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup (6 oz.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
1 cup chopped nuts
Sweetened whipped cream or ice cream (optional)

Directions:PREHEAT oven to 325° F. BEAT eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into pie shell. BAKE for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm with whipped cream, if desired.

NOTES: * If using frozen pie shell, use deep-dish style, thawed completely. Bake on baking sheet; increase baking time slightly.

Heavenly Honey Oatmeal Bread

Our favorite bread recipe and it is sooooo very easy.
1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
2 cups boiling wataer
1 pkg. active dry yeast
l/4 cup warm water (105-115)
1/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon butter or cooking oil
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
5 l/2 cups all purpose flour
milk and a little more rolled oats.

Placce the 1 cup oats into a large bowl. Pour the boiling water over oats; let stand for 15 minutes or till mixture is lukewarm. Sprinkle the yeast over the l/4 cup warm water in a small bowl, stir to mix let stand 5 minutes to dissolve. Add honey, butter, salt and yeast mixture to the oat mixture. Mix well with a wooden spoon. Stir in enough of the flour so the dough can be handled (The oats and honey make this stickier than regular bread dough). Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead for 2 minutes. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Knead 12 to 15 strokes till dough is elastic, but still rather sticky, adding flour as needed; don't add too much flour at a time. Place dough in a greased bowl and turn to grease surface of dough. Cover and let rise in a warm place till doubled abaout one hour. Punch dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface, as the dough should be a little sticky. Divide the dough in half. Shape each piece into a loaf. Place loaves in two greased loaf pans Cover and let rise in a warm place till doubled in size around 30 min. Brush with milk and sprinkle with additional oats.

Bake 350 oven for 45 minutes or till the loaves sound hollow when tapped. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. Now you will gain a pound or two and love it!!!

Classic Butternut Squash Soup

Our Relief Society tries to do a cooking club once a month. We do it by theme. This month it is at my house and the theme is soups. Here is a recipe I tried from Ladies Home Journal and it turned out pretty dang good. If I have enough time I am going to make the croutons as well that came from Southern Living Magazine.

Classic Butternut Squash Soup
Prep: 30 min Start to Finish: 1 hr 45 min
Ingredients
3 lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 medium onions, chopped
7 to 8 cups vegetable broth
Snipped fresh chives, for garnish
Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large roasting pan, toss together squash, oil, salt and pepper. Roast, stirring once, until tender, about 1 hr.
2. Meanwhile, in an 8-quart stockpot, melt butter. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 20 min.
3. Add squash and 7 cups broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 min. Transfer soup, in batches, to a blender and purée until smooth; return to pot. Add more broth, if needed, until desired consistency. Salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with chives, if desired. Makes 14 cups.
Nutrition Facts
Calories 130, Total Fat (g) 5, Saturated Fat (g) 1.5, Cholesterol (mg) 4, Sodium (mg) 1140, Carbohydrate (g) 22, Fiber (g) 3, Protein (g) 2

Sweet Croutons
Yield
Makes 3 cups
Ingredients
4 cups French bread cubes
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preparation
Toss together bread cubes and melted butter. Combine sugar and cinnamon; add to bread cubes, tossing to coat. Spread in a single layer on a lightly greased baking sheet.
Bake at 375°, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Paula Dean's Oooey gooey butter pumpkin cake

I saw this on Rachel Ray last year and I have waited this long to try it! So I made it last night for our gigantic enrichment activity (4 girls showed up, 1 participated!) of carving pumpkins! Anyway, everyone loved the desert and shad ate more for breakfast :( so here it is. and yes, it's not healthy...notice the word "butter" in the name!?! 

Ingredients
For the cake:
1 18.25-ounce box yellow cake mix
1 egg
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter
For the filling:
1- 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1-15 ounce can pumpkin pie filling
3 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 16-ounce box confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted butter

Yields: 20-24 small squares

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 13 x 9 x 2 inch baking pan.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine cake mix, egg and butter, and mix well. Pour into the bottom of prepared pan and set aside.
In the mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth; add pumpkin pie filling, eggs and vanilla. Dump in confectioner’s sugar and beat well. Reduce speed of mixer and slowly pour in butter. Mix well. Pour filling on top of cake mixture and spread evenly. Bake 40-50 minutes (You want the center to be a little gooey; so don’t bake past that point!). Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Aunt Juanita's Chicken or Turkey Casserole

3/4- 1 Cup cooked chicken or turkey

1 C finely diced celery

2 T finely diced onion

1/2 C chopped walnuts

1 1/2 C cooked rice (3/4 cup raw)

1-10 1/2 oz cream of chicken or mushroom soup

1 T lemon juice

1/2 t salt and pepper

1/2 C water

3/4 C mayonnaise

Mix mayonnaise with water and all other ingredients. Put into greased casserole dish. Top with 3 hard boiled eggs and 2 cups crushed potato chips. 

Bake at 450 for 15 minutes. 

PS, this doesn't make a  ton...like shad and I can eat almost the whole thing for dinner. So make sides or something! 

Grandma Maygren's Banana Bread

Grandma always had Banana Bread and cookies fresh from the oven when we went to her house!

This recipe makes 1 large loaf or 2 small ones

1/2 C margarine 

1 C sugar

2 eggs

2 C flour

3 mashed banana's

1 tsp baking soda

1/3 C choppped nuts

Cream butter and sugar together. Add beaten eggs and all other ingredients. 

Cook at 350 for 35-45 minutes*

(whenever I've cooked this the middle doesn't get done by the 45 minutes but the top does. So last time I put some foil on the top and cooked it another 15 or 20 minutes and just kept checking until the middle was cooked)

Yummy Little Sandwiches

I had these yummy little sandwiches at a playgroup I hosted on Friday. All of them women loved them and the best part they are a little different from just a sandwich.

Cucumber Sandwiches
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 c. Mayo
1 pkg. dry Italian Salad Dressing mix
dill weed to taste

Combine all ingredients.

Spread on sliced baguette, and top with a cucumber slice.

cheese Dip (ask mom what it's really called!)

I'm putting this in for mom...its her recipe and she made it in Mammoth. We all liked it. So I made it for Enrichment the other night and all the girls there loved it! Thanks mom! 

2 cups Swiss cheese (grated)

2 cups Mayonnaise

1 sweet onion chopped 

Mix it all up, put in 9x9 pan cook at 350 for 45 minutes. Serve with pita chips. 

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Pancakes
From Country Living

INGREDIENTS

1 cup(s) multigrain pancake mix, such as Up Country Organics ( I just used Krusteaz or whatever my store had)
1 large egg
1/2 cup(s) all-natural peanut butter ( I used Costco's Organic Peanut Butter because that is what we had )
1 cup(s) milk
1/2 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
1 cup(s) semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter ( I just used Pam on the pan so I didn't use the butter)

DIRECTIONS
1.Heat oven to 200 degrees F. Stir the pancake mix, egg, peanut butter, milk, vanilla, and chocolate chips together in a large bowl. Melt about 1 teaspoon butter in large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Pour three to four 1/4-cupfuls of batter on the heated skillet to form pancakes and cook until the tops bubble and the edges begin to crisp. Turn and continue to cook for about 2 more minutes, until both sides are golden brown. Transfer pancakes to a baking pan and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve. Repeat with remaining batter.

We served this to the missionaries and they loved it. We doubled the recipe as they ate ALOT. We also served bacon and hashbrowns. I bought a Ore Ida hasbrowns and added onions and peppers. The pancakes taste like Reesses Peanut Butter cups. We served Maply Syrup with it. Yummy!

Cheesecake Factory's Bruchetta

1 1/2 c. Chopped Roma Tomatoes
2 T. Diced red onion
1 Large garlic clove- minced
1/2 T Chopped fresh Basil leaves (4-6)
1/2 t. Olive oil
1/4 t. Salt
Dash of Pepper

Mix together and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Serve with French bread brushed with olive oil and garlic salt, then broiled.
This is so yummy!!!

Breanne

Blueberry Muffins

We got this recipe from Rachel Maygren (Lane's Wife) it was wonderful!

Batter:

• 6 T butter
• 1/3 C whole milk
• 1 egg
• 1 yolk
• 3/4 t vanilla
• 1 1/2 C flour
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1 1/2 t baking powder
• 3/4 t salt
• 12 oz fresh blueberries (although I only purchased one container of 6 oz and that was plenty of blueberries ... your choice though)

For the crumbly topping of sheer goodness: 3 T cold butter cut into bits; 1/2 C flour; 3 1/2 T sugar

Melt butter in a saucepan, remove from heat. Whisk in milk, egg, yolk, and vanilla.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, then add milk mixture and stir together. Fold in blueberries.

Divide batter into 12 muffin cups (which you've buttered or Pammed sufficiently).

Rub together the crumbly-topping-of-sheer-goodness ingredients with your fingertips and then sprinkle over batter in cups.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes at 375. Remove from oven and cool in tin on baking rack for 15 minutes

Thai Chicken and Spicy Asian Noodles

I got this recipe from Heidi McClintock (Hobbs) when we moved up to Utah over a year ago. We love it. And for a while we were making it at least once a week! Enjoy!

8oz package of Linguine
8oz package of fresh sugar snap peas (frozen works too)
2 T peanut oil (can use veg. oil)
2 T soy sauce
1 T peanut butter
1 T lime juice
1 tsp chili garlic sauce (substitute 1/2 tsp chili powder and 1/2 tsp garlic powder)
cooked and chopped chicken
1/3 C chopped fresh cilantro

Cook Linguine in 2 quarts of boiling water. Cook as directed on box. Add sugar snap peas 2-3 minutes before Linguine should be done.
Combine oil, soy sauce, peanut butter, lime juice, and chili garlic sauce in small bowl. Drain pasta and return to pan. Pour sauce over pasta, add chicken, sprinkle with chopped cilantro. Serve while warm.
Serves about 4 - I like to double the recipe to have extra for lunch. Sometimes I put the chicken in the sauce mixture while the pasta cooks to get more flavor in the chicken.

Carly

Desert: Cake Balls

When we were home over Memorial Day we made some fun treats and we got the recipe from our friends the Ferons. I'm pretty sure it was a hit. 

1 Box of Cake mix (i.e. chocolate)

1 container of frosting (i.e. chocolate)

1 package of Almond Bark or any other kind of melting/dipping chocolate (i.e. chocolate to go with these chocolate ones)

Make the cake as directed. When it's done, crumble it up into a large mixing bowl. Add the container of frosting and mix it up. Then form into balls and dip into your melted dipping chocolate. All done! You can make them look really pretty by drizzling the opposite color of chocolate dipping mixture over the top's. I even thought it would be fun to put ice cream in the middle! Or roll them in sprinkles, nuts, m&m's, etc. Have fun with it. You can even freeze them because it kind of makes a lot and then pull them out when and defrost when you need a treat! 

Carly 

New Family Blog

So, I thought of this idea a while ago and finally decided to get it done! I think it will be fun. So anytime someone in the family has a new recipe that they try or an old one they would like to share, post the recipe on the blog for everyone to see! Then we can all make comments on it if we liked it, didn't like it, tweaked it, etc. Also, if we need a recipe for something (a party, a church function, stuck in a rut for dinner, etc.) post on the blog what your looking for and then everyone in the family can see if we have a recipe that fits your description! I hope everyone participates and has fun doing this!